I used my divorce settlement to pay for a year of rent upfront

Ana Clarke shares what she’s doing to achieve the comfortable life she dreams of. (Picture: Supplied)

Welcome back to Me and My Money, Metro’s series taking a peek into the nation’s wallets and bank accounts.

This week we meet Ana Clarke, a 40-year-old business strategist and translator, who lives with her nine-year-old son and two dogs in a rental property in Kent. She currently doesn’t pay rent monthly – because she chose to pay the landlord for 12 months upfront.

Ana says she’d like to inspire more women to become financially independent and money savvy, having reshaped her finances and career plans after finalising a recent divorce.

Here, she explains what she does with her money.

Tell us about yourself and your finances?

I got my divorce finalised in October and I’ve had to budget and manage the settlement to make sure I have a roof over
our head for myself, my son and my two dogs. We are living in a three-bedroom, modern house in a village near Tunbridge Wells. It works really well for us as it’s near my son’s school and we feel very well-connected to everything.

I’m originally from Romania and moved to the UK 16 years ago. I’m a translator for the NHS, social services and police through an agency. I sit in on meetings for people where English is not a person’s first language, making sure they’ve understood everything. I currently interpret in Romanian as well as German, Spanish, French and Italian.

Alongside my translation work, I am also building a business. Because my family live abroad, I can’t rely on them to help with childcare, so I’d like to build something that will work around my child and provide us with a comfortable life, long-term.

I used some of the divorce settlement to invest in a franchise called TBSC (The Business Success Company), selling business courses in matters such as finance, HR and strategy. I paid £10,000 upfront and I now pay a monthly fee of £300 for my company, Lifezone Training, to be part of TBSC.

A typical day for me involves taking my son to school, and then coming back home to work on the franchise. This means taking phone calls as they come, while doing outreach to potential clients and leads. I may also be doing some translation work, sitting in on online meetings.

I try to finish by the time my son finishes school. Then we walk the dogs, do homework and when he goes to bed, I may pick up work again.

What do you tend to spend on?

I get Child Benefit of about £100 a month. My food bill is around £400 a month, which is perhaps on the higher end and seems to go mostly on packed lunches! In general though I am careful with food spending.

We don’t have takeaways or eat out much and I shop at the local market for fruit and vegetables. I pack coffee flasks and packed lunches when we go for days out and I batch cook – my son loves to help me. Because I work from home I’ve time to prepare meals in the day and I save on commuting costs.

I’m not paying pet insurance. I paid it for years but when one of my dogs needed treatment they didn’t pay out and I had to pay thousands of pounds. I now set aside £100 a month to cover any future treatment that’s needed.

Because I recently moved house, I’ve had to buy a lot of new things for the home and have put this on a credit card that I’m paying off at around £100 a month.

I’d like to go on holiday this year so am setting aside £400 a month. I’m planning to go to Morocco in the summer with my son and Lapland in the winter.

Tell us about your early relationship with money

I wouldn’t say I’ve always been good at managing money. I used to be very scared to look at my bank account, always worrying that I wasn’t making enough. But now I’m more relaxed about my financial situation, knowing I have the power to earn more.

I paid the first year’s rent for my home upfront, out of my settlement, so at the moment rent is not coming out of my monthly budget and I don’t have to worry about that.

It takes the pressure off earning a high income for now, although I’d like to aim for an income of more than £200,000 a yearin a few years’ time.

Do you have any investments?

I used to have shares but I sold them during the divorce. I would like to get into investments again.

I’d also like to pay into a private pension again. I used to have a workplace pension before I became self-employed in 2022, but have never started one up. I have always made sure to pay National Insurance though, to make sure that I’ll qualify for the state pension.

My goal is to live a comfortable life, which involves holidays, a nice car and a really nice house.

I’m not sure whether I want to get back on the property ladder again. With renting, I like the fact I don’t have to worry about maintenance.

I also like having the flexibility of being able to move if I want. I have a house in Romania that’s paid off, so I do have some property assets.

I’d also like to continue building my business and inspire more women to become financially independent and money savvy no matter the circumstances.